Life is all about the little moments and the little things, I share mine here in my Castle of Dreams

The Privilege of Growing Old

I am stuck! Don’t know what the heck has happened to me, it’s been three months already and I can’t stand looking at the last post I did any longer! I officially hate it, so I left my bed in the middle of the night determined to fix the problem. Enough is enough. I have something to say and it’s been stuck in my throat and heart for a while… My friend Ellie is dying, she is dying really young…and Aging is a privilege, so if you are aging you are so darn lucky.

My friend Ellie is dying with ALS. I’ve never met her, but thousands of us consider her our best friend. She has this crazy beautiful blog called “Have Some Decorum” -you can find it here – and thousands of adoring followers and friends…she is young and gorgeous, with a loving french husband and a pretty teenager daughter whom she adores and calls The Brat! Ellie is a California girl living in Paris, she’s hilarious and irreverent, tender and tough, with a dirty mouth and a mischievous brain as quick and bright as a ray of light. All her friends around the world, myself included, can’t accept the fact that we’re losing her and are praying for a miracle… and I would be all so grateful if you could add her to you prayers too.

To understand Ellie, you have to get to know her, it’s so worth it. I promise! But you must go way back in her blog to really get her. Don’t make the mistake to judge, just let yourself experience a lesson in life and strength that is rare and remarkable. I found her in 2014 through Janet from the blog The gardener’s Cottage Janet had just discovered her and begged us to pay her a visit, she was smitten and couldn’t stop reading…and then crying… I started reading and I was hooked. I can only tell you to be prepared to laugh out loud and cry like a child…

I don’t have images of “Real People” growing old with grace, I’ve been told in this post“Gray is Beautiful, or is it?” that the people in the pictures are rich, famous and photoshoped. I agree, but those are the only pictures available and until I become a famous photographer and I can produce my own material, this will have to suffice, of course that’s never going to happen, I barely know how to use my camera in automatic and prefer my iphone!

What is true and will continue to be true is that aging is a privilege not offered to all and that there is remarkable beauty, strength and character hidden in the lines that cover us all.

Ellie and Gracie in California

Ellie (Left in red and rhinestones?) and husband David. Don’t know who the lady in red in the middle is.

Ellie, not long after…

So let’s never forget to give thanks for the privilege and beauty of growing old

Hi, could you kindly explain what this link is doing here? I’m not that familiar with how this works. I thought it was a comment, it’s not, I thought it was a link to one of my posts…. It’s not. It has the name of my article… Thank you

This really touched me. The message, the photos, the glimpse of a vibrant life now gone. I’m not sure how I arrived here but I had just read about Ellie’s passing on the Contessa’s blog and it’ tough to read. I had never been to her blog but I will read her book. And I loved the title of this post. I just wrote a post about living with uncertainty and change and these sentiments are very alive in my world right now. After reading about Ellie’s last days somehow my own struggles seem so small.

Thank you for those words Leslie, probably you found me because I posted some comments in La Contessa’s blog. In my last post on my blog I included a link for a couple of Ellie’s posts, so worth reading! I hope you read that one too.
I’ll make sure To read your post!
Xx